Week 3

This week during class Amanda talked about how we’re supposed to use resources that are scholarly and about the different type of topics we can research. One of the things that we talked about was the ability to tell difference between a book that is made for popularity and one that is made to give out information. One of the things to look at when deciding if a book is a good source or not is the title of the book; if the title is long and smart sounding it is probably a good source, however, if it is short and cute, then the book probably isn’t exactly what you’re looking for. Also, if the book isn’t published by a University or someone that is very recognizable, then it also probably is not the best source to use. On Thursday Bonnie taught us the difference between patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Patents are the reservation of a certain idea; she used the idea of a thermos as an example. Trademarks are a picture or logo that companies have deemed theirs that others are not allowed to use. Lastly copyrights are works of literature or writings that have been protected by a law that says no one can copy them or use them in any way without the consent of the author. These things are very serious and if violated can lead to severe consequences. As Bonnie said in class, one of her students put a picture of a Disney character on the website that she made, and was notified that she would be sued if she did not remove it within 24 hours. People can get themselves into a lot of trouble for taking credit for things that are not theirs. Another thing that was discussed was plagiarism and the trouble that people seem to get themselves in; if you take credit for someone else’s work, or you don’t cite something correctly, without bad intentions you can still get in trouble. All in all, make sure you are careful when writing things and using other people’s resources or you can have difficulty helping yourself later.